"I discovered Ayurveda just accidentally. It was during one of my annual visits to India that I came across a vaidya, a traditional Indian healer, in Kerala state. The vaidya was in his 60s and had a small practice in the Kerala suburbs. Something tempted me to enter his practice and explore what was beyond that strange aura and serenity on his face, beyond that assortment of transparent bottles displaying roots and herbs of all colors and dimensions. He said he had inherited “this knowledge of medicine” from his father, who had inherited the same from his father and so on. He would read the pulse and tell a diagnosis. “You have some health problem,” he asked me. “Yes, I have one that bogs me down frequently, but I won’t tell you what… you have to tell me.” He smiled, and I knew his smile told me that “son you are kidding.” He held pulse (very much unlike the Western doctor back home did), closed his eyes (and I could feel my own wrist pulsating), and said: “I feel you are experiencing frequent temporal headaches, particularly during spring.” He was right. I was a disciple.